AUBURN — The head of the Civil Rights Team Project in the Attorney General’s Office came to Sherwood Heights Elementary School on Tuesday to talk about the lessons of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

During the week before the holiday this coming Monday, Brandon Baldwin is speaking at nine schools that have student civil rights teams.

Baldwin talked about how King, Rosa Parks and 958 children of Alabama were jailed for standing up to segregation 50 and 60 years ago.

Forcing blacks to drink from “colored only” water fountains, sit or stand in buses away from whites and attend blacks-only schools was “ridiculous! Unimaginable!” Baldwin said excitedly in front of an assembly.

The stories show how change can make the world better, he said.

Illustrating that there’s more work to do, Baldwin shared how in the past decade a Maine girl was made miserable on a school bus.

Reading a story, “Eight Little Words,” Baldwin said it was written by his boss, Thom Harnett, after the girl’s mother called their office. It happened in southern Maine six to eight years ago “in a school a lot like yours.”

The girl, Jasmine, was a native of Jamaica who wanted to go to school to learn, have fun and make friends.

She wasn’t learning, didn’t have friends and wasn’t having fun, Baldwin said. Every day as she sat on the bus alone, she was teased about her skin color, her hair, her clothes, the way she talked.

The bullying reached a point at which Jasmine cried every day. One day, her mother found her crying in her room. Jasmine told her why.

Her mother started crying, too, and told her she’d fix things. “But Jasmine’s mom does not know how to fix it,” Baldwin said. The mother called her daughter’s teacher, her principal, the bus driver. But the teasing continued.

One morning, a group of three girls in the back of the bus start taunting Jasmine and told her that she should go to a different school.

“Jasmine tries not to cry, but cannot hold her tears anymore,” Baldwin said. The girls laughed when Jasmine cried. “They thought it was funny.”

Another girl named Sally saw Jasmine crying. She decided she had to do something. As the bus reached the school, Sally walked to the back of the bus and confronted the girls. She was scared. Her words didn’t come easy.

But she said, “Stop it! She’s my friend. Your words hurt.”

Jasmine was stunned, surprised that anyone would claim her as a friend. The three girls were also stunned. “Nobody has ever told them to stop before,” Baldwin said. “They stopped. Eight little words from one girl changed Jasmine’s life.”

The three who bullied 9-year-old Jasmine were high school juniors, 16 and 17. Sally, the brave little girl who said the eight little words, was 7.

When Baldwin finished the story, Sherwood Heights students, who were paying close attention, applauded.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the best day of the year, Baldwin said. “It gives us the opportunity to celebrate the greatness in all of us. You have the power to change the world for someone else, just like the girl in the story of ‘Eight Little Words.’”

Student Evelyn Bilodeau, 12, said isolating and bullying happens everywhere. “But you can stop it,” she said. “Eight little words can make a difference.”

“It’s always good to stick up for others,” said Matthew Purdin, 10. He said he was impressed by how a 7 year-old girl had the courage to speak up to girls who were 16 and 17, telling them to stop.

“Everyone should treat others how they want to be treated,” Purdin said.

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“The Children of Birmingham” video shown to Auburn students Tuesday. The video is about how in 1963 children were jailed, bitten by dogs and sprayed by fire hoses for protesting the segregation of blacks and whites.